48 Chapter 048

Alvin clambered up a shelf beside the counter, which had a ledge he could sit on. The elevated spot was a great vantage point, and it was partially hidden from the rest of the bar. Alvin readied another shotgun he had hidden on the ledge.

The two men charged in shortly after, yelling at the top of their voices. Alvin aimed at the burnt flesh right in the midriff of the Pugilist, and fired a few rounds with his revolver.

The man was able to react rather quickly, ducking and dodging. A few bullets grazed him, but he was not that injured.

The Warrior, seeing the sparks from the revolver, was able to identify the place Alvin was hiding. He charged towards the place Alvin was in. Alvin totally ignored him, and focused on making the Pugilist keep dancing as if he were an ant on a hot plate. He managed to get quite a few shots in, which left the Pugilist bleeding. He managed to reach behind a corner with the thick wooden counter shielding him, he dove behind the same.

Meanwhile, the Warrior charged up the counter over which Alvin was perched and began trying to climb up the counter. Alvin ignored him, and reloaded his spare revolver while continuing to apply pressure on the Pugilist with the occasional gunshot.

The Warrior triumphantly yelled, as he came within striking distance of Alvin, but unknowingly, he had triggered a tripwire that Alvin had carefully avoided while climbing up.

Soundlessly, the heavy duty antique but functioning crossbow launched a serrated steel bolt right into the chest of the Warrior. The bolt penetrated his chest, and sent him flying from the counter he was standing on.

He landed on the floor with a thud, still alive, but almost certainly dead soon unless some Extraordinary Healing powers came into play.

The Pugilist yelled in sorrow and rage as he watched his companion fall dead on the floor. Then, still crouched behind the counter, he began to crawl to a nearby window.

Alvin jumped down from the ledge and went towards him keeping a reasonable distance, wary of sudden counterattacks. He held the freshly reloaded shotgun as he advanced.

He went reasonably close, and fired at the figure which he could vaguely make out behind the counter. Some of the bullets hit him, but he was not severely injured. Believing that the shotgun was now empty, and that Alvin was close enough for him to fight, he charged up from behind the counter, only to be greeted by yet another shotgun shell, only this time at a much closer range. The man fell down with unwillingness in his eyes.

Alvin quickly dispatched both of the injured foes with a couple of bullets, as Hunters never torture their prey and would show mercy with a quick kill once they have fallen.

He then dragged their bodies away from the door, and went outside. As soon as he went outside, he saw that one of the Weapon Specialists was severely burned all over, and lying down. The other was still fighting with Radopest, seemingly having the upper hand.

Donald was lying down seemingly on the verge of death, but a closer look revealed that he wasn't fatally injured, and probably faking it to preserve the stalemate.

Alvin raised his revolver, planning whom to fire at next.

Suddenly, a large swatch of flames descended, and shot at the Weapon Specialist. He fell to the ground screaming with severe burns on his face.

"Run" came a low voice out of nowhere.

Hearing this, Radopest straightened up and fled. Donald's fingers twitched, as did Alvin's, as they wondered whether they should make a move. But considering that the voice could belong to a powerful Beyonder, they stayed put. Suddenly, a man descended from a nearby building, grabbed Donald, and fled.

Realising that he might inadvertently 'rescue' Donald the Nighthawk if left unchecked, Alvin rapidly fired all his bullets at the man.

He easily dodged all the bullets, and even managed to keep 'Welsing' unharmed.

But in the short delay when he was dodging bullets, two figures caught up. One of them started pushing out pulsing waves at him, while the other shot three ghostly figures at 'Welsing'

The man abandoned 'Welsing' and faded into a paper figurine.

Hannah quickly stood next to Donald, while Raleigh stood next to the injured Hunter.

As they were preparing for a fight, a figure suddenly descended from the air and landed right next to them.

The Nighthawks all seemingly gave a sigh of relief, due to the arrival of Gordon, the Sequence 5 Beyonder.

Gordon looked around and asked, "What happened?"

Hannah stepped forward and said, "We expected a sophisticated trap, but these brainless bozos straight up pulled out a weapon in the middle of the street and charged. We were about to help, but someone came and stopped both of us. The source of confidence by the Zmanger Gang to weather the trap perhaps. He probably thought we were also part of the trap and held us off. It looks like all the three members of the Zmanger Gang were Pyromaniacs. They held were attacked by 6 members of the Warrior Sequence. They were mostly in a stalemate before Alvin killed 4 of them"

"The two Pugilists and one of the Warriors are in the bar. The other died here" said Alvin when Gordon looked at him.

Gordon nodded, and said to Donald who was getting up, "Have someone capture these two Weapon Specialists, escort them to the cathedral and interrogate them"

"Also, he said turning to Raleigh, "Arrange for the disposal of the corpses. Make sure that no anomalies are left behind"

He then turned to Alvin and said, "Good job. You will be rewarded for your contributions later"

Finally, he turned to Hannah and asked, "Did you recognise the person who attacked and held you both off, or at least his Sequence?"

"Did not recognise him, but that's not surprising, as I have a pretty good guess about his Sequence" said Hannah. "He was definitely a Sequence 6 Faceless. He probably fled after divining your arrival"